Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 ¶ After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2 ¶ And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed; and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.
4 And then the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thy heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thy heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if thou art able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him for righteousness.
12 ¶ Blessed is the people whose God is the LORD; the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
13 The LORD looked from heaven; he saw all the sons of Adam.
14 From the place of his habitation he looked upon all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He fashioned all of their hearts; he considers all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the multitude of the army; the mighty man does not escape by much strength.
17 A horse is a vain thing for salvation; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon those that fear him, upon those that wait for his mercy
19 to deliver their souls from death and to keep them alive in the famine.
20 Our soul waited for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
21 Therefore our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in the name of his holiness.
22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have waited upon thee.
11 ¶ Faith, therefore, is the substance of things waited for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the ages were framed by the word of God, that which is seen being made of that which was not seen.
8 By faith Abraham, being called, hearkened to go out into the place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he went.
9 By faith he sojourned in the promised land, as in a strange country, dwelling in booths with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
10 for he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11 By faith also Sara herself being sterile received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she believed him to be faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore there sprang even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off and believing them and embracing them and confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For those that say such things declare plainly that they seek their native country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had time to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one; therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
32 Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell what ye have and give alms; {lit. do acts of mercy} provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches neither moth corrupts.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
35 Let your loins be girded about and your lamps burning,
36 and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he comes and knocks, they may open unto him immediately.
37 Blessed are those slaves, whom the lord when he comes shall find watching; verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to food and will come forth and serve them.
38 And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those slaves.
39 And know this: that if the husband of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
40 Be ye therefore ready also; for the Son of man comes at an hour when ye think not.
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